Security firm offers more Flashback details, free tools

News of the Mac malware dubbed Flashback continues to spread, trailing on the heels of the exploit itself. A security firm has uncovered statistics about the Flashback infection, as well as providing tools to detect and remove the infection.

Kaspersky Labs managed to reverse engineer Flashback and set up a “sinkhole server” where it could intercept traffic reported from computers infected by the malware. The information the company retrieved helped it compile data on the extent of the botnet spawned by Flashback; so far, Kaspersky says, it’s registered a total of 670,000 unique bots, or infected computers.

In addition, the firm was able to break down the bots by geography; unsurprisingly, more than half of Flashback-infected computers were in the U.S., followed by decent chunks in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. And although a vulnerability in Java could affect other platforms, Kaspersky’s numbers say that Macs make up more than 98 percent of infected machines that it’s surveyed.